MY WITCH 36:The Rebel Rescue
by NotQuiteNormOld
Summary: Caleb is making plans for the escape of the rebels captured by Elyon in the abortive battle of the Meridian Plains, while Will is struggling with her newfound dreams.
1. Chapter 1

Aldarn listened, as something - presumably a rodent - scrabbled across the grounds and he knew that every man in the cramped cell was waiting silently; watching eagerly. He understood: Aldarn was hungry, though he wondered if it was worth eating, or if that was only prolonging the misery.. His only thought was that he'd been right - his birthday _was _in November, and if he could stay alive for days longer he'd be a man when he died. Though his father had always wanted him to be married.. "Hey! I saw it first!"

"Save your strength for fighting our enemies." Vathek and a shadow he couldn't recognize stood to brawl, but Vathek gave off under his glare. He didn't know _who_, his father intended him to espouse - he knew that two years Drake had been kidding that the lack of a wedding would be because he was secretly sapphic[0], but he was only jealous that Aldarn had managed to actually make a friend worth having; out of Caleb no less - and Aldarn was certainly not interested in undermining himself to 'fix' one of Drake's many ladies, which depleated the far most of the female rebellion (not all being elligable ladies at that), though his father would most probably pride himself that his son had married despite what was barely even considered an improper lady anymore. Aldarn shook his head and stood - the lack of food not so much, but that of noise was creating a pace in his mind. He didn't generally like to think about things. "MY MEN MUST HAVE FOOD!"

Footsteps. All thoughts of what could have been; who he _could _have become, were lost as the scent of bread hit the room: dry and stale, but that fact only causing the yeasty scent to become stronger as a guard stood with a bag, and he found himself immediately being shoved back. Sent to the opposing wall as men pushed and shoved and he was disgusted that it had been one day. He and Caleb had gone a week before - and that had been simply because they'd been busy; still, even, in the Infinite City's walls. He wished he was that hungry now; his stomach had been fully clenched against the lack of food, but he'd never seen anyone so animated after six days: Caleb had planned out an entire battle to at least twenty different back-ups, though they'd all be useless now, they had been old news since the guardians and besides, the Mage would've hissed in rage if she had known that they were leaving. She was empty: dead, he was sure, but until now she had been clever. Now she just kept talking to Caleb when he wasn't there. When no one is there. She was always talking to him, and she'd never spoken so much in his lifespan with her.

"Hey!" A gruff voice sounded and the guard's obvious laughter ceased, before his men started shouting out pleas like women. They were cowards, if they were so undeniably hungry after one night, and he was sorry if Will was in here. Not in this cell, she wasn't, but Caleb would have been going for Phobos, and what if she was here, somewhere, without them? ..She'd probably be pillaged. If these men would offer their information for food already, he doubted the loose attempts at being called the _good _that fought Phobos _evil _would strain themselves from violating her. He could only hope that Drake was with.. Aldarn made a face and slid to the ground. Perhaps not - he'd never known where Drake stood, and he'd never been good news, but he'd never _seemed _as bad as some of them.. Aldarn had come to like him, simply because he was older and told him secrets he ought not know about a woman, and besides, Drake quickly began to call Caleb _Caleb_. "The Prince will have our heads!"

"Lord Cedri-"

"_Prince Phobos _sends them spoils.. Besides, the murmurers can eat from the battlefields." Aldarn's head shot up to fast at that, as bile rose up in his throat.. And he felt the silence that eminated through men, and he hated every one who'd thought of Caleb first. He hated himself. And he hated that no one even cared about those bodies - that could be their fathers or their brothers or their friends - whilst digging fists into bags of more bread than they'd seen in weeks. He was wrong. /this bread was fresh and warm, and Aldarn swallowed his saliva, but found that he could only use the loaf to thaw his fingers: holding it, but finding himself unable to bite.. If anyone was left out there, they'd probably be eaten alive.

* * *

><p>[0] Gay. Yes, even medieval boys would probably call each other gay (a far greater insult; to the father as well mind you), and of course it'd be more worrying {what with homosexuality a sin and all} for the first while - if not Aldarn's less likely being - Caleb obviously showed no interest in women, and the mind would wander to such an evil creature having such preferences (especially seen as Phobos wasn't known - probably seen as asexual with a chance of either).<p> 


	2. Chapter 2

Caleb growled as Blunk timidly skirted about the water's edge; his patience thin because everything was wrong, and he should have taken Will home, and he shouldn't have been woken by a giggling Hay Lin who'd already forgotten the violence, and who's main concern was the children's book that even she was_ too grown up for it now, Caleb._ He shouldn't have told her to leave, and he shouldn't have been so rude about it. He should have apologized, and his main concern should _not _have been whether or not Will would bother to get out of bed.. Whether she could.. "Blunk don't.. Like.. _Water_.."

"Gi 'aftó den eíchate bánio se déka chiliádes chrónia?" Caleb didn't bother to listen to Blunk's retort or lack of, because he'd been hoping that Will would have called - Hay Lin at the very least, but he.. Hw'd left her in a battlefield, and she hadn't wanted him to walk her.. To touch her.. She wasn't wrong, but only hated that she might not forgive him.. "I need you Blunk. You're an important part of this plan."

Caleb cursed as the passling scrabbled up and lodged around his neck to avoid the _'wet',_ because he knew that he was part of it too, and he found the frustration increasing, because he'd been being so idiotic. He'd been planning to kiss Will _silly_, and he'd only been so imprudent because he'd known that he could.. He'd been acting like Drake. He'd wanted her to blush and he'd been foolish and inappropriate and.. And pushing and leading, and he didn't want to be like Drake. "Why not bring girls?"

He cursed again, as he waded through the water because he was meant to be concentrating. And he cursed Blunk for asking the Goddamn question. Though. He hadn't said anything about Will, and he frowned as Blunk made - in the least astute manner possible - the point that Will would help. Will would help. An empath would probably sense beings with an ease.. Not that Caleb was particularly lost on that; his senses making up for the lack of any sixth or seventh Will might have..[0] But Will would be sick and if honesty served there was a reason he'd decided to leave earlier, rather than later - hopefully taking his time, because he doubted he could look at her, if she was anything the same as yesterday. But he couldn't tell Blunk that. "Rule number one. Don't endanger more people than you have to."

It was a half truth, Caleb thought as the water became deep enough to swim in, especially if those people were Will.. If only because he was more distracted when she was there.. There was no logic, for Caleb, when Will was there.. It was scary. Wonderful.. But scary.

**...**

"How'd you do in the science test?" Will cursed as her voice wavered, but Cornelia only rolled her eyes when she forced a smile, and she found it quickly dropping when the girl's eyes moved away from her.

"Oh! Like I can think about the Universe expanding or shrinking or whatever it's doing, when Caleb might be in trouble."

Any source of the smile left dissapeared and if it were possibly, Will would have turned a shade paler as she swallowed and frowned deeply; her fingers pulling the Heart up in the pockets her thicker winter coat and letting go in a twitching movement, because she found no other way to conceal her nervousness into one gesture. She'd meant to fix things today. To apologize and thank him for.. He'd done everything to look after her, and Will wish Hay Lin hadn't told them so sadly that he was going to Meridian.. To Phobos.. "Cornelia! He'll be fine! It's just a recon mission, and he's done this lot's of times.."

"Yeah, but," _Dont't. Please don't._ Will closed her eyes and begged that Cornelia would stop: the girl's new habit being to incessantly note every possible bad thing that could happen, and Will had already woken up from.. "Matt! _Hiii.._"

Will frowned, missing the count for a milisecond, before she slammed straight into.. Oh.. Matt.. Hi.. Wait, Will frowned; she was meant to say that bit out loud. Will pressed her eyes closed for long seconds as she wavered, exhausted on her feet. "Oh.. Hi, Matt."

* * *

><p><strong>Gi 'aftó den eíchate bánio se déka chiliádes chrónia? -<strong> Is that why you haven't had a bath in ten-thousand years?

[0] 6th or 7th because she can sense dark magic as much as she can sense other people's emotions.


	3. Chapter 3

"Hey.. Uh," Matt Olsen smiled, pleading with his eyes as Cornelia backed away, before he finally brought blue down to meet soft brown. She looked tired, and he wondered what she'd spent her days doing.. He never saw her, and her number was a lost cause and.. And now that she was here now, it was like meeting her all over. "It's been a while.."

She laughed at that, and he smiled in relief because he'd forgotten for a second that this was Will.. She was a realist, and it hurt as much as it calmed him to know that he'd be all but forgotten.. Not many girls would, and he liked that she was done with him when she was done with him.. Well.. He was glad that she wasn't with him.. Well.. He'd thought he was.. "Y-yeah."

There was something wrong with him; correction, there was something wrong with her, because no one else could make him feel so nervous and so calm and so happy to see her and sad to.. Her. Definitely her. He was sure of it, because there was something desirable despite the rustled jacket and the mud on her knees and.. She wasn't wearing the jacket anymore. This one was knew, and he opened his mouth to say something, but clamped it shut once again.

"I heard you're with Chelsea Tom."

"N-no! ..No.." He felt his cheeks burning and he knew he'd been too eager in denying.. It was on her face. All over her face.. Just.. She was just staring at him and cocking one eyebrow up and.. He couldn't deny it.. He couldn't lie.. "It was just one nig- No.. Not really, I didn't even mea- Oh crap, why do I talk so much?"

He expected a laugh. A smile. Matt flushed forcibly, and a cold sweat threatened to break as she seemed to nod forward; her head landing, and apparently resting on his chest, her wild hair falling everywhere and a simple gurgle of sound that shared her humor tiredly, and made him swallow as Cornelia Hale's - usually friendly - always beady eyes darted from him to Will. He hadn't even touched Chelsea.. She'd been drunk. he'd taken her home. He'd dropped her off at the end of her path for God's sake! "I'm sooo tired.."

He laughed, uneasily with her, but he found it more inspiring awe in how her irreverent tone and lack of concern only pushed his hands to flew, before his fingers barely.. Flexed. Again. And then he tensed entirely - if he had not been before - because nimbly fingers drew expertly, and he knew he shouldn't be thinking _amorally _up his chest.. Then down.. Then to his sides.. Then.. "Hey, Will, you know I still have that dormouse if you wan-"

"S-sorry.. I.." He couldn't look at her, he found, as she shot back.. At least not in her eyes and he- Flinched, and scorned himself - was he a pervert? Even if it was just him looking at the coat.. It didn't matter. She'd think he was.. Especially after what Joel had _assumed _with Chelsea.. "I'm really tired, Matt, I'm sorry. I didn't mean.. I think I was falling asleep a bit.."

**...**

"Relax, will you?" The Raynor Fish had been dead; he'd been expecting need to fight it, but the Raynor Fish had been dead. Phobos was depleting then - good to know, now that his army had basically offered themselves; bowing down, and begging His Highness' forgiveness.. Maybe if he got on his knees.. No, Will would find it funny.. Maybe that was a good thing.. No, maybe if he just told her he was scared.. He'd left her because he was scared, and he'd.. He really had been a pig, and in reality he knew he should just never go near her again. He couldn't use the guardians in the war anyway.. Not when they were so.. And Will couldn't..

He'd been trudging through a tunnel system, and looked up when he reached a cross-roads; two forking stairways to a catapult, and a lack of different directions to be taken. One door. Under the stairs and the catapult; the area of the castle was out of bounds.. New, maybe - Prince Phobos had had years to build something new, though sometimes Caleb knew those things.. He just.. Remembered it even though he hadn't been there... He hadn't done that in a while though. "We go.."

Blunk sheepishly stopped when Caleb jerked, because it was another fork; three doors.


	4. Chapter 4

Prince Phobos watched, with a faint disappointment in his eyes - not for the woman lain sleeping in his bed, but for the Lord who'd assumed her as a child-like plaything for his doings. It wouldn't help her any, in his favorings either, that he knew it an immoral that she was not his married, though she was a much beautiful child. It would be when Caleb had cut - had become, and had left - that Lord Cedric had had his vanquish. Lord Cedric had been angry, and Phobos had yet to care; though sometimes he wondered if he was still yet to care, that the man had assumed more power than he'd ought to, and had slaughtered the Metamorphose; all but one; all but Miranda. There might be another, maybe two in this world, but Miranda was the endangered species now, despite that he honestly would have assumed her a greater race than humanity. _'Escanor'_. It was like having the King of Earth[0] call himself a title of _Human_, though perhaps he was - Phobos couldn't care less. "Sororem Miranda.."

He smiled as she stirred; a humble gesture of the lips that he'd never let her see in person, because it was his private joke.. Or it had been, for a while. He'd taught Miranda many things; her title was a true Metamoorian name, and he liked that he could now speak to her in phrases[1], but he'd never teach her sororem. Pray she find out, because he'd been picking on her at first, though perhaps she'd forgive him now; the promiscuous girl who needed a nurse. She'd certainly never forgive him that he'd push her into the cradle so forcefully - it was neither his job, nor place to care a child. "Mmn.."

He supposed that it'd be appropriate: he had brought her into his home, and she had lived - though carelessly, and rather less than monogamously - in his home for several months, in fact years; it would be expected that he marry her, if anyone else was Highness. And he could, he supposed - he would dare see Lord Cedric rape his wife, and his rules did not entitle her the charge; not that she would want it either way. And her manogamy - or lack there of - could be put down to Lord Cedric: it would be easy to lie and say that she had been coerced. She would have, most presumably, had she not obliged. "Sororem, it is late noon."

"..Phobos..?" He could not, however. And it plague and shamed him he was so depthless; so superficial that he could not offer her a safe-plot. It bothered him - too - that she was in his bed. It had bothered him more to put Elyon there, but he felt a pained tug at Miranda's being, because Elyon was not to be helped - she was to be locked away within her own soul for her sinner's sociability, unlike Miranda who could easily unburden his propriety none, but whom he could easily unburden so much. His own simple mind in his way, that as Elyon disturbed him - for it would be in her mind a dispicably dirty thing, while for Phobos it was only Elyon who was dispicable - it would be far more incestuous to wed Miranda. And he frowned with an unburdenable guilt as she sat and he felt no jolt for seeing her sat in her slip, though turned simply because a woman at her bloom ought not be even seen at her eyes in her slip. "D-did you sit there all night? ..Y-your Highness.."

"Intruders have been detected in the tunnels." He would not motion her his angst - the approval would be worse, but he couldn't have seen her so starring to his fratris. His brother holding Will. And how it would be if he had wed her, and his woman would love his brother, whom would have the woman he- _Child_. He pushed out forcible breath as Miranda fluttered past and to her many fortuned petticoats - he would not tell her that they were his mother's _bairn_[2].

"I'll-" He sighed and she startled from the simply fracture of sound alone, realizing her position - near naked, at eighteen in front of him - and most probably realizing more, as she dropped the dress values and pulled on merely the top-coat before flexing her fingers as though preparing before she transformed. "I'll attend to them at once.."

He turned, as she left, and he cursed his stillness, more than he had his shaking, because he was more a man every day, and were she not a child - though a prince had never been bound by the restriction of age (nor blood, for he knew several ends of the tree, where a mother wed her second son - never the first for she would gain no further throne).. It wouldn't matter anyhow. He could easily have any sheets to match a bride if he ever so desired; not that he intended to vast any source of future, considering he planned to ascend and become immortal - not an impossibility, he was sure, if the right course was taken, though he had momentarily noted his sheened black, and that she might look far more amourous; paled white skin and red.. It would have made a stunning contrast, though she was far more mortal than any. She would die first: probably before, and even by Elyon.

* * *

><p>[0] Despite interest, I doubt Phobos would bother assuming anything other than that Earth would have <em>one <em>king, and one queen as his had.

[1] He's revealing that he's taught her some language - or that possibly he's brushed her with meanings when she'd ask, and that she's simply been good enough to remember them (in his view at least, _for him_)

[3] They were his mother's "child". They were for Elyon, and were probably fairly rich and well made at that.

**Sororem - **Sister. _This was a joke when he first said it - he's referring to that her family and race was dead, but the use of '**was**' implies something of him having more sibling-type feelings than before. He's also saying it wasn't his job and he wasn't meant to raise children, and despite Miranda's age (late 18s)he is being maternal with her - maybe in a slightly clumsy sense, but the point is he's (trying to hide the fact that he's) saying that he is trying._

Please read: To avoid misenterpretation, he's thinking about Miranda being innapropriate in his bed. He's noting that she's technically the perfect example (minus Cedric) of an awaiting bride, who is now of a very appropriate age -her prime- to be married, and that he could marry her to save her from Cedric and her poor background. He's also upset with himself, almost embarrassed that he is _not _a 'hero' and that he's too shallow and selfish to manage to do that for her - saying (truthfully) that it's because she is more like a sister now than Elyon seems (he admits he simply hates Elyon for who she is more than the incest part of not wanting to marry her), but also tries not to mention that he pictured Will in his bed: thus, as his wife almost.


	5. Chapter 5

"Taranee, I'm sorry.." Will pressed her eyes closed as soon as she'd opened them, and pushed her shoulders forward to stretch her back where she sat; leaning against her front door. She was falling, again. She'd already done it on Matt, her desk and maybe she should've sent an astral drop to school. She certainly hadn't felt like studying, and on arrival she'd simply waited outside, as early came to acceptable, and acceptable became late. And late became now - the sun was folding to the snow which had fallen outside, and she wish that she could recall where the portal had been.. She didn't want to go after him.. She just wanted to.. Be there. When he got back.. "I know I told Will you were tutoring her today!"

She needed somewhere to sleep, and there was something much.. Warmer there, and she doubted that he'd mind, and she had wondered if Caleb had ever seen snow, too.. Maybe he had.. He seemed to know what it was, but it wasn't the point.. So many people became fascinated by the snow, and it was awfully romantic, too.. Well, that _had _been her reason to attempt making it the first time; she was no good at _coy_, so she'd thought that might make up for it.. And now he'd proven that she was under his finger, because he was risqué. He was libidinous; titillating; racy, shy, ardent, frigid.. Fascinating and flawless.. Adorable and lustful.. Will was no good at English, but even now - her mind falling again into a chasm of day-time black-sleep[0] - Will could list a hundred thousand tens of synonyms for Caleb; most of them paradoxical and in contradiction to themselves.

But now she supposed, she merely hoped the snow would bring it's high-spirits, and that she'd easily apologize, so that she could spend the afternoon drawing endless patterns detailing exactly the measurement of her missing him[1], and falling asleep with the radio on, and Caleb murmurering things about Meridian he knew - it was beautiful, how he described things when he thought that she was sleeping; as though he'd never been to that place, or seen those creatures, but with a hidden element of how he'd like to.. Will frowned and shook her head, opening her eyes and standing straight before wretching the door open with a false-energy and grinning at her mother, "Hey mom! Guess wha- Ooh.. Math tutorial at four O'clock.. I am such a cheese brain!"

"Mm.." She blew a strand of cherry red from her face, with just the right amount of _forgetfulness _that she'd had more and more over the months, but she knew fine that Taranee knew the face, and the girl frowned - probably assuming that she'd been out, poncing through Meridian, or thinking about doing so _simply _because she was suddenly logic-free 'idiot on patrol' Caleb-hearting Will, who couldn't possibly be tired after all those.. The blood.. Will's face hardened as she swallowed a wretch of bile, and tried not to think about the blended-effect of the boy's- "Can't argue with that one.. Sorry Will, I've got my own homework."

"Um.." Will swallowed again, to cover the sickly taste in her throat, and looked to her mother because she really had been unfair to Matt.. She had never even asked her mother.. "So, I was wondering, about a pet-"  
>"Don't you think you have enough distractions?"<em> Yes mom<em>, Will thought, frowning deeply as she stared at her livingroom lamp; in hopes that concentration would help her keep her balance, because her knees had crumbled and her shins literally shook, queasy now that the image was in her mind.. The glass box with the.. There was a war going on! She was more tired than when she slept; she got to deal with everyone else's feelings as well as hers - even better when she couldn't control or push them away; she was honestly attempting to convince herself that she was any height to a _hero _from another planet, who happened not only to _look _like a greek God.. He spoke Greek. And then there was Phobos, and his wandering eyes and -thankfully quickly stopped - hands, and there was Cedric, and Elyon, and Aldarn, and _Drake_, and all those rebels, and all those bodies.. And that pulverized pulp of a body..

"Mom, I can handle it.. I promise."

**...**

Caleb rubbed his forehead, and wish he didn't consciously have to note that Will would still have a cut there, but he shook his head anyway, because he'd been walking through the tunnel, and.. And somehow he was back again at this original cross-roads. Two staircases to a catapult, and one door. And he hadn't noticed the small waterfall on the opposite side of the wall, but apparently now he was in it.

It would possibly be acceptable, were this the _first _tunnel that led them backwards.

* * *

><p>[0] black-sleep is a reference for when you don't <em>not remember <em>having a dream, but when you literally sleep and remember (as though a dream) just the blackness of closed eyes - it's almost awake, too, but the person tends to zone out completely and act as though asleep: not hearing outside noises, and barely feeling things like people touching you, etc.  
>[1] Yes, that <em>is <em>an implication - she _did _do that to Matt, but half-asleep, who knows what she was thinking ;)


	6. Chapter 6

"Something's coming." The boy stopped still, and Miranda seized as someone else cried out, and she resented that this man had said _'thing'_. She wasn't a thin she was a.. She was a disgrace of her nature; she may have grown many in her spider-esque form, but she'd been human much too long. Prince Phobos would need to be careful, because she looked of five years younger than herself- Four years. She was aging too fast. "Shut up, Blunk! I can't hear it!"

Miranda's movements were careful; silent, unwavering until green eyes shot to her and seized her. And she felt her body shrinking, and she was only glad that her natural transformation was much more graceful than Cedric's - then, that was based entirely on that Cedric's tearing skin and cracking bones that reshaped and multiplied was the most disgusting thing she'd ever seen, though she'd once appreciated what she thought was an effort. "I- I'm not a thing."[0]

"You're a Metamorphose.." She dragged her eyes from his then; his stature changing from one of defense to one that seemed more intrigued than suspicious at all. And she was surprised that he knew what she was. It was the murmur-boy and his pet. And she swallowed when her eyes hit to the passling, because she.. It was an inherited addiction; a filthy one at that, but passlings were a homage to her brothers and sisters, and she could not generally help herself. Though she held strong now. "Y-you're very rare."

Miranda bit back a smile, because he said it like a compliment, and she could see the resemblance to Phobos. All those clocks ticking in that head, she had no doubt he'd acquired the intellect simply by the flash of his eyes - something far less obvious in Phobos, but then.. Phobos hadn't seemed so awed by her. "I suppose, I could easily go extinct any second. What with that knife in your belt."

"I-" His eyes had swept down and she smirked because he was careless; she only looked about fourteen, so she supposed he'd assume she was. And then, she supposed, she honestly was of no threat to him like this, but she could easily transform.. She didn't, though. It got lonely in the castle, and if he had not had time to know him, Miranda could understand the need to run from Phobos; it was in his eyes, emerald that shone passionately with the morality Phobos seemed to somehow hold through his acts. There was a fear in there; a fault; a guilt, an apology and that awe was still there. "I wasn't going to-"

"I know." She felt a little lost, because Cedric had told her so many things about a snide man. A rude man. An inhuman. But this was a boy, and a clever boy at that. He was no royal, but in some ways he was more polite than Phobos - this branching that in some ways the Prince didn't feel he was allowed to be - and in some ways he was much more childish; his trust was based purely on his awe, or that she looked childish. What else could it be? "You.. You're rarer."

She froze. Was he smiling? She wondered if Phobos could grin like that, because it was as awe-inspiring as he'd seemed to think she was - that smile alone - she hadn't seen a real smile like that before. Even Elyon's had seemed too much, almost fake, and that was probably because she was guilt-ridden that she'd taken to her own brother. But he was stunning; more in the sense that she was inspired by the seemingly shared lack of others; their commonality, and his pride - if only for a moment - that she thought he was rare rather than a mistake. "I've never been called that before."

"Use the catapult." His smile fell and he frowned at her as Miranda faltered for her job. Prince Phobos would let her get away with it anyway, and as much as she understood why Phobos longed for him, Miranda only looked down and grimaced, remembering that she'd not yet properly dressed. "It's your only way out. There will be guards the other way, though Lord Cedric might b-"

"Are you trapped?"

Miranda blanked as he looked at her kindly, and she wondered if he would help him. Phobos. He was so lonely and maybe if he was at least with himself.. He wasn't even a whole person anymore, and maybe he wouldn't be so.. If he was at least with himself.. She shook her head - he wasn't in the right mind anyway - his insanity was a given, but he didn't seem himself. "N-no.. I liv- This is my home."

He frowned at that and took forward; she took a step back, but he was so fast, he was already at her; pulling her face up gently by the chin, and seeming to be examining all angles. "How old are you?"

Miranda felt a blush creeping over; this boy was surely embodied seventeen or so, and he obviously thought her a child as she snit and turned her nose up, "Of age."

"Are you his intended?" Her eyes widened and she had to think for a moment, but she was sure. She wasn't. She couldn't.. Prince Phobos was in no intent to..

"You had better leave, before I change my mind you filthy little.. Immanis." Inhuman. He didn't seem to understand the word, but his face drained of colour and he did leave - clearly aware that if he would like to offend her, she would not attempt to humble herself of the action. Of course she wasn't His anything. Prince Phobos would let her kill him if that was her desire. She could leave any time she liked.

**...**

****Caleb could only remember digging his knife forcefully into the rope, and then landing in the swampy grounds of the after battle. He was impressed too - the Metamorphose had been a good help, because he wasn't a half a mile from the portal when he'd landed and he was quickly forwarding. "NAAH! WATER!"

"Shut up you little-!" Caleb cut himself off, because whatever he'd been called it was not a good thing. He'd been offering her his help, but she didn't want to leave. She was no good anyway - she worked for Prince Phobos; that would have to be it, if she was not.. And Caleb knew that the Prince had an eye for red anyway. "Just.. Shut up."

Blunk coughed and jumped away as a frog leapt past, and Caleb's eyes followed as he considered simply not going ho- to Earth. He didn't deserve their friendship, and Will would be sick, too, and Cornelia was stupid enough to adulate him, and Irma kept telling him he could have.. And Hay Lin was so special.. And Taranee.. And Taranee knew that he was a fake, and everything became illogical and everything became possible with Will. He liked to imagine that she would say that - what the Metamorphose girl had said. _You're rarer. Rare._ It was something he'd never thought of, and he'd never think of it again, but when he thought of it, Aketon had always called him special. He thought it had been a kind way of saying inadequate, but maybe..

Caleb knew he wasn't rare. He was an accident of nature. A proof that Prince Phobos could become exactly what no one wanted him to be. Godly. "Mmm.. Ssave the little one for Miranda.. She'ss partial, to passssling meat!"

Caleb fell back in the mud as Lord Cedric rounded forward, and reached to grab Blunk; running the last small stretch to the portal, and finding the decision had been made forward as he ducked away from sharp flints of rock; tunneling wheels of spikes in metallic forms, that he'd seen but didn't know much of. They seemed to shoot their spikes like darts, and he grabbed the rope and Blunk's arm, "GO!"

"Um.." Caleb's heart pounded, because the act of being caught in itself was _not _in his plan, but they were going to eat the passling, Blunk, and as far as Blunk _was _a thief, he was probably to be torn apart alive.. And he was sick of Phobos winning. "Caleb go first! Blunk smaller target!"

The passling dove away and Caleb pulled himself up on the rope; sighing when it pulled taut underneath, signaling that the passling was behind him. He pulled through the portal; Will had sliced it on an angle, but he'd only been glad that she -after several minutes of begging- had actually managed to do it and how they'd got through it yesterday, he didn't know - all he recalled was that it had been with great difficulty. "Blunk?"

Caleb pulled the rope, and felt the weight of the passling; taking it up in large lengths until-

"Blunk!" It dropped. The weight ceased. He pulled the end through and stared, because he knew that it was risking more lives if he went back.. He was meant to be saving a rebellion.. "Blunk.."

* * *

><p>[0] You have to realize that she's eighteen, broken, and feeling vulnerable, as well as unwanted - as much as she'd hate being raped, I'm sure that because she'd had a crush, it'd only make it worse that he doesn't even want <em>her <em>there; he's picturing Elyon.

Anyone notice that she forgot about the delicious passling, because she was focusing on Caleb?


	7. Chapter 7

Caleb would have ran the entire distance - that last night he'd carried Will - to the Silver Dragon, had he not been stopped; mugged on the street, and only as this young man; this thief, grinned sheepishly and stole away whatever had kept his heart beating for so long. And he found himself rooted to the spot. Only then had he noticed that it was snowing - something that was due any time in Meridian, though at a much heavier rate - and he wished that she didn't look so Goddamn happy.. Laughing as something shattered inside of him.

He should have known; that he'd messed everything up. He had the second he'd implied he was just a boy, and false hope was only taunting because he still found the words catching in his throat if every he tried to tell her, and Caleb clenched his jaw as the dark haired boy laid his filthy hands on her. Touching her.. Couldn't he just keep a proper distance? The thirsty brute, and how old was he anyway? Caleb felt something root him down, as he tried to move forward; to rip his degrading fingers from her arm and probably to blind him as the young man's eyes raked down her, though he-

Caleb looked away; turned his face to his right because he couldn't watch as she rested her head on his wretched arm, and Caleb ignored the jot when someone crashed into him, though he instantly turned as the man began bawling out curses, and found cinnamon-hazelnuts taking him over; her head raising off of the boy and.. And Caleb only frowned at her, knowing that he had everything to show her - there was no possible way that she could not at least understand of his adornment to her, if not to realize that he'd rather she stepped on his face before planting knives into him than this..

Not that Will _would _know. Even things he told her half-sleeping, she would remember off by heart after months, but she never seemed to understand that he was kissing her because she was sweet. Holding her hand because something about their smallness in his gave him comfort. Staring at her because there was nothing quite as.. Not that it mattered. He had left her to die and she was going to make a point of the consequences to him.. And he knew that it was not his right to her. "Caleb!"

He just hated that of whom's right it was. "Uh.. Will.."

**...**

Will's smile fell, as Caleb swallowed and looked anywhere except from her eyes; a sadness that was quick to evaporate the immediate rush that he gave her, and he was staring at Matt.. "Will, I need you to- Uh.."

"Oh, right! Matt, I gotta go." She shot the boy a smile, and turned to find he was already walking away; Caleb striding through the people dotted around the streets and Will finding herself pulling her jacket closer to her body, wondering where the portal might be, "Caleb!"

"What? I'm in a hurry Will, I-" He cut himself off and she snapped her mouth closed, because he was so.. Had she really offended him so much last night? She couldn't recall; everything had seemed to be happening to someone else and she knew that she'd been shrugging him off.. And he'd been trying so hard. He'd be so wonderful, and she'd felt him worrying, and she really had been thankful, and she had a loose recollection of him doing things he didn't need to- Sipping hot chocolate, because when she held it her hand had been shaking. Whispering promises that it wasn't going to hurt, because the damp towel had stung against her forehead. Whispering listing strings of Meridian to her, because she might have told him that she liked it once.. And she couldn't find it; the ability to thank him. She didn't want him to touch her because she didn't want him to feel this way.. "Just, what?"

She winced as he spat the words, but his scowl didn't falter, and she suddenly felt incredibly ashamed that she'd acted that way. She must have been able to do something.. She shouldn't have been like that to him and.. Will flinched back, when she'd slid her hand to brush his fingers, but he'd only fisted his hands and thrown them into his pockets, and she felt something shatter inside her; something that had been wearing thinner and thinner, but even if it had been whole -whatever it was- he'd have still broken it in this moment, and she dug her own hands into her pockets. "N-nothi- I'm sorry about y-yesterday."

"Well don't be. You're an empath. It's your job to know how people feel. It's not like you asked to be here." Will stared down at the thin layer of snow on the ground and wondered what he meant by here. Why he was so mad. "I'm sure your _friend_ will see you later."


	8. Chapter 8

The silence was deafening. A cliché, but it was true and Will shuffled her trainers - slowly the snow's cold was soaking through - and had long pulled her hands from her pockets, feeling them slowly numbing from bitter cold as Caleb moved on in silence.

He was walking too fast - not that she would tell him. But her legs ached from the sheer strain of standing and she breathed quickly through her nose; her head starting to spin. She was so tired. She just wanted to.. Will blinked and shook her head to evade herself from the darkness slipping in, because it just made her worse.. And she didn't want to sleep. She couldn't- "Caleb.."

"What, Will?" Will bit her lip as he growled, but she pushed forward and didn't let his speed get ahead of her, finding that necessity might be her salvation. Because he couldn't be mad.. He couldn't honestly..

"Caleb I really tried.." He still didn't look at her, but she was glad because that green eyed little boy, that poor little boy, and she'd tried. She'd really tried, but she couldn't find a way in. There had been no way in. "I couldn't control it Caleb.. It was a bad dream.. And I couldn't-"

"Jesus Will! It's a dream, can't you just-" Will stepped back then, because she hadn't.. She didn't know what she'd done to him, and she just wanted to sleep so bad, and she didn't want him to be like this, and she was just so, so tired... Will felt her eyes stinging with repression from the ability to close, and he just felt so angry and upset, and there was just something else, but she couldn't.. She couldn't tell what it was. It wasn't nice, and it wasn't making her feel any nicer, when all she'd wanted was Caleb.. "Can't you just be realistic Will! Jesus! Assert yourself! Just God damn come out and say something if you don't want it! Blunk is stuck in Meridian and you're drea-"

"Blunk is what?" Will stared at him, as he continued to say things that didn't make sense, and she would've preferred he hadn't come, because at least Matt Olsen was just going to let her fall asleep, right there on his arm, and he was too nice to even say anything about it! But Caleb was just.. "You left him! Caleb, I can't believe you left him and you didn't think to tell me!"

"As if you'd care."

**...**

Caleb despised every word that fell from his mouth, but had found they had fallen before he could stop them; his heart ruling his head, which was screaming out unheard that he should stop. He should never have started. He couldn't say those things; he didn't mean them, but he couldn't just kiss it better either. He was not who she thought he was, and it wasn't acceptable that he could lie to her. "What the _fuck, _does that mean."

"It means nothing." Caleb frowned, over the pain he knew she'd be able to see in his eyes, but this was not about him any more. This wasn't about being able to adore every part of her, and it was not about whether or not she wanted him to. If he could not tell her, it was unacceptable to touch her. It wasn't his place. "I didn't mean anything Will."

"If you don't mean it, don't say it." Caleb swallowed, then, and closed his eyes, nodding, then opening to stare down at her because she'd latched herself to him. And he knew it was all his fault, and he didn't want to- He wanted to wrap his arms around her and tell her everything that he was sorry that he'd done to her. But he'd lied.. He'd lied so much, and he'd only wanted.. He'd only wanted to be.. "I'm sorry, if you're mad."

"Please." Caleb pressed his eyes closed again, against the sting because she wasn't being fair. She was never being fair and it was worse because she was never going to stop. It was in her scent; in her laugh; in every breath that she took and every time that that little heart beat; especially when it beat; when it beat so hard that he could feel it's pounding through his skin and pulling against his own; creating skips in his vital system; it was in her skin and in her eyes, and in her hair. Scarlet red blood filled the rain of the Meridian Plains, and if he would cope this war it was because it only reminded him who he was fighting for now. He didn't want her to have to spit on his body. "Don't touch me."


	9. Chapter 9

"BLUNK!" Irma halted, momentarily, as Caleb shouted out, because Will had frozen up. Everything was here, as it had been and the mud was soiled with bodies, weapons that had been discarded.. She wondered if she could still feel it; Will, because the redhead was slipping, a tiredness setting further in, and her pale face yellowing with a slightest hint of sickliness. Maybe it was just being here, because Irma knew all too well that she was denying herself that package; distracting from the trembling anguish; forlorn pity; the somber melancholy that Will was either doing nothing to hide, or was simply hiding the extent of her drowning in it. And Irma feared to know which of those was true, distracting again when a groan emitted out. "Dumb passling. Made me go through the portal first, doesn't he- Blunk?"

Irma winced; not at Caleb, who rolled over and was shoving the moaning guard forcefully back by means of his foot, pulling out his knife threateningly. But at Will, who'd hidden a muffled noise at Caleb's aggression to the injured. And Irma dragged her eyes away, only to realize she was wrong. It hadn't been Will, but Hay Lin, and Will had merely been the one to pull the Asian against her chest, and to wrap her arms around in a way that her hands were pressed against the girl's ears, blocking out whatever might be coming, as Will frowned through the obvious pain, "Stop it, Caleb."

"Ti égine sto fílo mou?"

"You're scaring Hay Lin. Caleb put it away." It was a strained voice, but Will seemed only stronger for how sickly she was, yet it was Cornelia who'd stepped forward to physically take the knife. She didn't get there though, and Irma was glad, because she'd met Will and Caleb with a dangerous look set in his eyes; one that had only intensified now, as he halted - knee deep in bloody clay. "Cale-"

"Shht!" Will had straightened in a jolt as his eyes swept the perimeter, and Irma's heart began pounding slightly, because she hadn't heard anything.. And yet what if something was there.. What if..

"Caleb call Blunk friend!" Irma shrieked and grasped onto Taranee, then felt her temper rising because the pesky little, bastard, toad.. Thing! She growled as Taranee extracted herself from Irma's grasp, and the little passling shot at Caleb to hug him. "Caleb like Blunk!"

"Ópos eínai tóso éntoni léxi.."

"I thought he couldn't stand Blunk?" Irma scowled as Cornelia shrugged at her, Will's expression no less grim -though a teasing guilt seemed evident- as she let go of Hay Lin..

"Must be a guy th-"

"Morpians!" Irma looked up and scrunched her nose up when she saw the scarlet-orange scorpions, but Caleb seemed panicked, "Don't let them-"

"Got it!" Irma stepped back and flew away from the streams of laser-like fire, as Taranee flew up and smirked at her work; the scorpions seemingly, "Ow!"

"Taranee!" Will motioned forward, and was instantaneously wading in where Taranee had dropped, but Caleb had already pulled the girl out of the water, hugging her close in an effort to subside the writhing until she stilled completely, and Irma wish she hadn't seen Caleb's hand reaching to check her pulse, "What's wrong with her!"

"Morpian bite." Irma felt a chill rise, for his every movement as he checked her over; two fingers still at a constant, resting on her neck, "She'll be okay.. You have to let her sleep it off though."

"We need her to rescue the rebels!"

"Do you want her to _die_?" It had been in fast succession, but Cornelia had exclaimed it, and Caleb had bitten out, and Will had given him a look that would kill if it could as he shrank back. "She could be sleeping for twenty-four hours."

**...**

"H-help me-e!" Cornelia's eyes shot away from Taranee, as Caleb sneered at the guard; his words thin and breathy as he clutched his shoulder, his entire massive frame shaking violently. "P-plea-"

"Oh, yeah, like _that's _going to happen!"

"Caleb, he's injured!" Cornelia stared back at the resentful boy, who pushed Taranee carefully onto the solid ground and stepped forward, and found herself wondering what the hell had happened because this didn't seem like Caleb.

"He's a castle guard! Who do you think we're fighting!"

"P-l-plea-se!"

Cornelia turned to Will, and felt something lift in her chest when the girl tiredly nodded, but cried out in shock when Caleb pushed past her and glared at Will. "You cannot just do what you want! You can't just wait until you are upset with one of us to change sides, and you can't just waltz up to Phobos! You are a little girl and you know what Will! He killed them anyway! You risked your life to say _pretty please _and you always get what you want, but he lied and he killed them anyway!"

"What the hell are yo-" Cornelia snapped her mouth shut, because Will's eyes had welled up and.. Will knew what he meant? Did that mean she'd gone to Phobos? When? Why? What the hell was she thinking?

"Caleb, we're going to-"

"No! We are not! Can't you just for one second discriminate between good and bad? He is bad! He is on the wrong side, or doesn't that even matter! You help him! You take him to the rebellion! He kills us in our sleep! You do _not _save the opposition Will! What the hell comes next? Do you want us to start helping Phobos! Not that you probably haven't been! Shit, Will! Can't you just STOP! Just stop, and shut up, and we thought you were going to help us! But you know what! You just can't! I don't care, if Phobos was polite! I don't care if you think someone is being truthful! YOU DON'T GET TO TRUST ANYONE!"[0]

"Will.." Cornelia pressed a hand on Hay Lin's shoulder, but the girl seemed somewhere else, as she spoke the name. "Will, it's-"

"Go save your fucking rebellion, or are they just collateral?" Cornelia felt glad; relieved that Hay Lin was far away, because she'd never seen Will so.. Hard. So cold.. And she looked like a grown up, she really did, but Cornelia felt a wave of sympathy to either side, and knew that yesterday had been hard.. And everyone was wearing thin, but this was really happening; _everything _was happening now, and suddenly Cornelia had the least to worry about in the dress for the Christmas formal, where she'd spent the entire of last year's winter months with.. Elyon.. Caleb had snatched up the knife he'd dropped getting Taranee, and spoke something to Blunk sharply, but Cornelia saw the hurt.

That was the problem with power-couples.. They both stabbed to kill, and Cornelia seriously found herself disgusted. Because as horrible as Caleb had been, and Cornelia knew he was probably deserving the worst of her anger because of it; Caleb was like this all the time. Cornelia _expected _it from him, but Will didn't look sorry until he'd turned away, and even then she tried to hide it within stung, watery eyes.

"Get Taranee, me and Cornelia have this."

* * *

><p>Ti égine sto fílo mou? - Where's my friend?<p>

Ópos eínai tóso éntoni léxi - Like is such a strong word..

[0] The 'anyone' is the clearest bit here - Caleb is pushing her away, because he's feeling guilty that Will trusts him, and panicked that if she can trust him, 'an evil murmurer who's been deceiving her' what about his originator; Phobos? He already knows from the Book that she went there after 'Underwater Mines' (instead of being with him - a blow to him personally too), etc..


	10. Chapter 10

It was time, and Nerissa felt the fear passing through her; creating strength as she finally fumbled careless, old hands to a crack that had been there for days. And she slid fingers to that crack; ignoring the sharp rock slicing to her bone as it scraped at dying skin, because she didn't much care for this corpse, and Nerissa slowly felt her hand up the etched hole, until she reached the meeting to it's roof, and pushed. "Ahh.."

The dog snarled; the wolf, sitting for nights on end, it must have smelt rotting flesh. It must have been hungry, and it pounced at her hand before she could even see it, but she pulled her disintegrating, rotten bones from the soul confinement - she had been right, it was embedded with Kandrakar; a broken Heart which the Oracle would regret to have only fueled her desire. A desire to save it. To relieve it from the babe.

The babe.

Will.

_Caleb_.

She repressed it's screams, because she was yet to see; only pushing images into the cracks of the Will. The thing. The abomination. And the dog had whimpered away; had obviously realized that she was soiled meat; she'd kill him faster than he'd feel full."You.. You will be cold, and fierce, and cruel, and reckless.."

Nerissa took steps after years; eons, and felt her heart seize and wheezed breaths halt, as the rustle of wind somehow slipped into Thanos, and she glanced as lava-fires glowed bright, not at this wolf, who would change at her will now, but at the bubbling reflection, who had not allowed herself the privilege of sleep, as Will - it was Wilhelmina, as it turned out; ironically named the warrior, as she crushed her knees against her chest and watched over _fire_[0] as the young child slept gracefully. Wishing for vanquish of sleep, but already fearing the drain. For every energy Nerissa would have to build new bodies; of her own slaves and knights, babe would crumble. Her bones would turn to dust, and Kandrakar would see her bowing, as the pitiful elements would seize her and destroy her once her life force was charitied to another cause.

"From now on, and forever, you will be my Khor, the Destroyer." Nerissa smirked at the wide shining eyes in this fiery magnitude. A babe was right, but when Kandrakar had told of a baby, Nerissa had made the dull assumption that baby might grow. "You will wreak havoc in my name. In the name, of Nerissa."

Fearful child. Fearful baby. Nerissa might never have to chase, if _Wilhelmina_'s mind was so easy to find. So easy to break, inside a skull that would crack and burst so fragile. So fragile, so sweet. How sweet of her to lie waked for her _fire_.

And Nerissa was close. So very very close. She was sure that she had gotten in. A moment. One moment. A fragment of time, in which she had been in the doom; had felt the darkness; could smell death and despair, and was staring at a face. A pretty face; a very handsome boy, in that second. _Lucky Will_. A stranger. She still couldn't grasp the name. Only Phobos echoed from his lips. The leader. The rebel leader. Just a boy. A sweet, sweet-faced boy. Say it. Say it. Spit it out. Spit it. Say. Spit. Speak. "In the name of the Heart."

Will had spoken.

**...**

Will watched, with trembling cold, as Taranee lay still. Incredibly still. She looked so peaceful, and Will envied it despite her friend's condition. Her mind was full and rushing, and Will had no prospect of sleeping.

It wasn't that her body didn't beg and crack and blister with every movement, and in fact stillness also, but her mind would not rest. Would not sleep. The brain's defenses would not lower guard; to allow the chasm of recoiling sleep to filter into her mind, but something was stirring in her senses, that had caused the red alert.

She had said it. She had spat the words at Caleb and for long seconds she had been glad that she did. Almost celebratory, and it hadn't been fair. Everything was so fast, and she hadn't even known. She didn't know what to say, but that voice. That conscience. _Say it. Spit it. Spit it out_. She hadn't had anything to say. Everything had seemed misplaced, as though a thief had come and ransacked. And she'd gone blind. Momentarily. Everything had stopped. She couldn't hear, couldn't think, couldn't see..

And Caleb. Then Caleb. She had forgotten everything. Everything was coming back. She'd lost his name. Misplaced it. He was just a handsome boy, with green, green eyes, and he looked so mad and he was the rebel leader and she had wanted to hurt him. Spit it out. She had spat the most hurtful thing she could think, though momentarily she'd meant to question trusting him. But even in that state; paralyzed in standing, Will knew that that wasn't true. She did trust him.

And she _had _been wrong. About Phobos. To go to Phobos. Everything was swimming so quickly and she felt so tired. In waves, she felt it; eternal fatigue sinking in, and she'd felt better. For a moment. Turning off the t.v. and receiving a static shock which had fooled her somehow, momentarily, that she felt better.

What had she done? What had she said? Her mother had come in, in the late hours, and now as morning crept in, Will felt the key into the Laundry within her pocket; the guard. Tinard. He had been wounded. And Caleb had wanted to leave him. Had wanted them to let him die, in fact, he'd seemed as dismissive of Blunk. That wasn't Caleb. That was someone else; someone she vaguely recalled swearing at constantly, because Caleb had been so loud. Aggressive. But he had been gentle, and sweet, and passionate, and desperate, and angry, and sorrowful, and.. And she'd needed him. And he'd asked her not to touch him. It was like she was the enemy now.

* * *

><p>[0] She means Taranee - she doesn't care to use names, when to her they are just slaves of elements rather than controllers<p> 


	11. Chapter 11

"..Will?" Taranee felt a wave of guilt pass over her, as the drooping frame jolted awake, and Will considered her with tired eyes and a sickly thin frame. She looked sick, and Taranee pitifully glanced down at Will's duvet, on top of her. Had Will sat on that desk all night? "Will.. What.."

"Don't worry, I called your parents T. I said you were sleeping over, and hey, it's morning..ish."

"What time is it?" Taranee let her heavy head fall back, but she already knew that Will wouldn't have slept properly.. And that it was probably better if she didn't know how deprived Will was of her bed, "What happened?"

"I.. Caleb and me.." Taranee frowned at that, and sat up as Will slid from her perch, and - somewhat clumsily - stumbled before deciding against it and leaned back against the desk again, "Well, y'know.. He yelled, I spat venom, and now I have a king-sized humanoid guard in my laundry room!"

Taranee could only feel a wave of sympathy, as Will blearily laughed at her apparent impotence, though Taranee had seen how strong Will had to be.. And if she let her guard down for just a second.. Will didn't get time to make mistakes, and Caleb had been in a mood anyway, so she sighed as Will screwed her face up..

"Oh.. And I told Matt I'd get the thing!" Will had dropped her face into her palms on her lap, and Taranee was helpless to do morn than watch as the girl indulged in a fake stream of tears, or perhaps the sobs where real; simply unaccompanied by saltwater trickles, because Will really did seem to be upset with herself. "I can't do anything!"

"Is that what he said?" Taranee sat up and thought of Caleb, but Will peaked at her and shook her head.

"No! He was right! I went to- Look, I did something really stupid, and I- He was right, and I said.. Oh! I can't believe I said that!" Taranee swallowed, as the morning sunlight streamed into the room, and Will stood bleakly. "I told him that his rebellion was collateral.. I made out like he didn't even care, and he'll never speak to me again!"

"Will.." It was hard to be as sympathetic as Will probably needed her to be, but something in Taranee felt as though it was better. And yet.. She'd always thought he'd be the type to be hiding, and she had seen him clench his hands in frustration. She had seen him with Aldarn; fighting him for the measliest things, but then.. Then, he had been fighting because Aldarn was about to touch Will. And he had clenched when he was fighting with Cornelia, and he was.. "Will, he'll speak to you. Don't be silly."

"Yeah.. Right.." It was so stupid that she had missed it. Taranee knew that she'd been getting ahead of herself - he was protecting her. It wasn't just a fact, it was a natural instinct. Will fell and Caleb caught her. It was like a mother and her baby. He didn't seem to have a logical choice. He did it anyway. Maybe psychological, but definitely there. Even when they were fighting, he was always angry that she was being self-destructive; whether she'd meant to be or not.. And he didn't have an off button; he would've killed Aldarn, Taranee was sure of it.. Maybe he liked her more than Taranee had thought. "B-but, what if he doesn't come back? It was all my fault last time, and I- The rebellion-"

"Well, you're the one with a portal hopper." Taranee forced a smile, as distraught eyes looked up at her, "Just tell him you're sorry."


	12. Chapter 12

Caleb had sat the night out, in relative silence; a fact of which he was glad that Blunk had granted him. And Caleb supposed that his only concern with the passling was Blunk's ignorance; his small-stacked intellect which made the passling jumble his words. He assumed all passlings would do it; referring to themselves in title out of confidence, and structuring their words in riddles.. Blunk was _quite _clever though. He had the morality to no longer steal from friends, and sometimes the passling could be wiser than Caleb appreciated.

Blunk forgave them. Caleb had asked, in the early nightfall, and Blunk forgave all the criticisms and comments simply, _because_. Will was right. For three years his rebellion had been dispensable - and then Will. Even now, Caleb didn't know more than a hundred people's names; simply out of lack of interest, rather than inability to remember more. Maybe that was her point. Maybe she didn't trust people as much as he thought she did: Caleb had no idea what she'd been thinking. And she'd got _into _the castle. How was that even possible? Maybe she knew more than he thought, and maybe _he _was the one being kept out of the loop. She wasn't an idiot, he'd just been so angry that.. That he was.

"Wake up, Blunk. Nomízo óti épsachnan óli ti nýcht, allá apó ópou kai an páei." That was another thing. Blunk understood it, but he didn't speak the full Escanor. And it amazed him mostly that one made such a lifestyle choice; it was counter-productive; there was no logic.. But maybe that was it; the key difference between Caleb and life. The wall in between. He didn't understand it. Why would Blunk do it if it didn't help him.. It didn't make sense. And Will didn't make sense and as honest as it was, Will might not be what he'd thought her to be. He had thought her incapable of words like.. Well.. No.. He just.. He never thought that she'd mean them. "Blunk we can get down now. Maybe we can try the moat again."

The passling had a rival of his own, apparently. A Jeek. As if Caleb desired the lingering scent of two passlings; the critter had stolen something of a hook, and Caleb had almost been caught getting into the castle. Caleb looked up to Blunk who smiled goofily, "Blunk go anywhere for Caleb."

"Ugh, cut it out." Caleb rolled his eyes, but smirked at the passling, that looked creepily alike Cornelia in expression; a thought that made him grin, and momentarily forget Will's sharp blade to the gut of words. "You were less creepy when you were deviou- BLUNK DON'T PICK THAT!"

The Cardillack tree groaned in excitement, as the removal of a shriveled sweet-smelling fruit alerted the natural defense, and the branches began swinging erratically; Caleb instantly changing course, up the tree. The viney roots slipped up the tree, and Caleb grasped the branch and barely missed Blunk with the skin of his fingers; yelling out as the passling fell and- "KEEP YOUR FILTHY ROOTS OFF OF HIM! EARTH!"

The tree sank into the ground, and Caleb slid off; his eyes initially intending to reach Cornelia's, as Blunk thanked her and the girl tried to push him from his grasp on her skirt, but his eyes fell to the injured Guard first. A bandage on his shoulder, and the beast stood next to Will like a friend. "What's he doing here!"

"Well.. Tinard has offered to lead us through the underground mazes to the dungeons."

**...**

Cornelia caught a breath, as Will stumbled back and clutched her wrist where Caleb had viciously grabbed, before shoving her back, behind him and out of his way to stand in Tinard's face, "Oh, I _bet_ he has!"

"Écho tin próthesi na tous voithísei, se antíthesi me esás." Cornelia pushed the passling away softly, but stopped herself from going to Will, because Irma and Taranee had stepped forward, and Hay Lin only seemed able to look, startled by the act of aggression, or maybe it was the sheer audacity of Will's shock; her wide eyes and appalled expression. Caleb always listened to Will, but if he wasn't listening t her, who would he listen to? "Min échete akómi ti frontída pou échete tin pligónoun?"

"Of course I-" He'd whirled to face her, and Cornelia looked away as whatever had been pulsing through and violating Caleb melted; realization grasping him, apparently by the neck as he seemed to be suffocating in a self-mutilating anguish. His features wrecked, and warping between pity and sorrow, and regret, and disbelief.. His voice broken, by the time he remembered how to speak, "Will- I-"

She could've slapped him. Hit him. Spat on his face, but that wasn't Will.. She could handle a lot from Caleb. She could handle a lot from anyone, but Will had been getting tired since Cavigor. The fuel was running low, and Cornelia thanked God that she didn't have to feel whatever Will did. In those fits of fear and crying and screaming.. Will had admitted that she'd wanted to be dead; in the prison. She had been desperate. She was so sure that she'd have offed herself, had she not found breathing alone difficult to do. Not that Will had admitted it to Cornelia. She'd told Taranee. She'd told Taranee not to tell Caleb. And the secret alone; not even the actual feeling had burned through Taranee and into Cornelia's phone line. "He's going to show us the way."

"Will.." Will turned away and she looked like she might stumble over and break at any second. Not so much her look, but it was in her eyes and her face; a tired, morose version of this sarcastic, funny person. "Will, I-"

"Girls.." Cornelia straightened at that, and frowned at Caleb, slightly pitifully as she stepped beside Will's shrunken demise. He hadn't meant it, Cornelia knew. And Cornelia could see that in his eyes too: he'd hate himself forever because he'd hurt her wrist; Will was still flexing it experimentally.

**...**

"How long can the other guardians maintain the distraction?"

"Nothing personal, but how about we don't tell you the whole plan alright." Caleb clenched his chest, standing tall beside the guard, as Taranee flew forward and lit the corridors ahead. He'd hit her. He'd.. Will was so frail and he'd shoved her down.. And what if it was broken? What if she'd sprained her arm and it had been him? He'd only been so mad.. She could have died under this man. This guard could have killed her. That was their job, and he'd been so focused.. So tunnel eyed that he'd shattered the little porcelain doll he was mean to be protecting.. And this guard had been the one to point it out. "As far as I'm concerned, there's every chance that you're a spy."

Not that it mattered. Caleb might as well be Phobos' personal hit-man. He'd give the Tracker; Frost, a run for their money. And she'd just stared at him, and he didn't know.. She'd looked so afraid.. And he'd done that; all in one second she was so much smaller. And she looked so tired and she was.. She was so little, and he'd never even have forgiven himself if it was one of the others. One of the strong ones, but then he'd been thinking that Will was strong.. But she was so so small, and he had torn her away, because some stupid guard had needed their help, and he'd forgotten that that was why Will was Will.. She was so special, and he'd thrown her into the mud.

Caleb stopped at the apogee of the many doors, he'd tried three of them, before the little spider girl had come. The little spider girl who lived here; probably the last of her kind, and she had only been impressed by him.. And he'd had the audacity to smile! To like it! That someone found him wonderful; something extraordinary to find, but she was from here.. These walls.. Filled with screaming hatred and pure malicious rage. Maybe he did belong here. He'd been fucking happy. He might as well ask to live here full time, and just shatter little girls' bones as a daytime fucking hobby. Shit. Shit. The word kept running through his head as the guard pointed second left. Shit shit shit. "This one."

She should have left him; Cedric was bound to have killed him, but she'd sent her fucking air guardian and now he'd broken her arm. Maybe it was the justice gone astray; he got told he was a fucking prize and then she got battered the shit out of. Fuck. "W-what's that sound?"

It was probably Will's bones giving in; shattering from his sheer ideas alone, and falling clumsily on the floor. Wouldn't that be fucking wonderful? He'd might as well kill her now. "We're under the dungeons. That's the sign that it's safe to go up."

* * *

><p><strong>Nomízo óti épsachnan óli ti nýcht, allá apó ópou kai an páei -<strong> I think they searched all night, but they're gone.

**Écho tin próthesi na tous voithísei, se antíthesi me esás. Min échete akómi ti frontída pou échete tin pligónoun? -** I intend to help them, unlike you. Don't you even care that you've hurt her?


	13. Chapter 13

Okay, don't forget that it's been nearly 2 days.. And without water you can die in just 1, dependent on your health... And he didn't eat the bread either.. And he's been living in a famine and a drought..

* * *

><p>He supposed he ought to have seen it coming; flaw in Phobos' whimsy. It was Aldarn's flaw though, he supposed, that when the water had come his mouth had felt flooded, but now that it had been hours since his chance had passed, Aldarn felt the crumbling walls of his scratching throat that burned for water. Even his own saliva, was far too salty, and he remembered now how Caleb had water. They'd gone a week, but there had been so much water; Caleb insisted on the stuff, and would live without food if it was short, but he always said that water was vital. You can die in just one day: Aldarn was sure that he'd heard that; probably from Caleb himself.<p>

Why had he passed that water? He was so thirsty.. Aldarn would do anything, he just needed to drink. He didn't care; not about the rebellion. They could find someone else. They could all just die. He was so thirsty. Aldarn didn't want it; he didn't want to die like this. Couldn't they feed him to those things? Murmurers.. Caleb could eat him, for all Aldarn cared - it would have to be better. His mind was suffocating; his _body _was suffocating and it was so hard.. It was so hard to breathe.. And why was everyone whispering? He must be delirious, as footsteps echoed softlier than he recalled and the air became thick with whispers, he pushed himself to the bars, with intention to beg or die. "Please, there's a guardian!"

"Mon Aldarn! Shht!" And then Caleb was pressed as hard against the bars and Aldarn could have cried as his lips clashed thankfully to Caleb's forehead, and his cheeks, and Caleb had shot back, appalled; by the dry lips on his skin. "He's krísimi! He needs food!"

Aldarn couldn't find the words for what he wanted.. Not food, it was.. It was so hard to remember.. It was so hard to care, and everyone was whispering at last; they were realizing at last. Caleb is here to save us. I knew he'd come. It was spreading like wildfire, and Aldarn smiled, remembering now.

"Aldarn, when did you eat?" Caleb turned to someone else, but he hadn't eaten anyway. He and Caleb could go a week without food. "When did he last ea-"

"You.." Aldarn pointed to the dark girl behind him, who was being helped to tie up a guard with an.. An.. Another.. It must be madness, because that was another guard helping her.. No.. No that wasn't what he'd needed. What Caleb needed him to remember.. "The girl. There's her.. Will is here.."

He was going to pass out. He knew it; it wouldn't be the first time he'd slipped out of conscious, and he was sure he'd missed another chance for water. And none of them had cared. The filthy bastards around him had stolen his water! And all Aldarn could see was Caleb, who's face had gone blank; he wasn't listening! Didn't he care that Will- His Will was here! "No, Aldarn, no, she got away.."

There was a muffled noise and Aldarn frowned bitterly at the guard. They'd tied him up. It meant that Phobos was alive; of course he was, "Why the hell aren't you dead yet!"

"He needs water." Aldarn glared, refusing to bow to unconscious, because Caleb got all the water he wanted and he wasn't- No, of course he was a person.. He was getting mixed up; he didn't like it with these people. Even Vathek didn't care if Caleb wasn't looking. No, Aldarn was on Caleb's side. Caleb was going to save everyone. He was special. "Didn't you hear me? Get him some water!"

Icy quench splashed his face, and he heard moans, but Caleb only growled out that everyone was hydrated, so why wasn't Aldarn. But Aldarn had pushed it away. Aldarn let it dribble down his mouth now, as Caleb forced it down. Too fast. He was drowning, he was- Aldarn felt it slide down his throat, with a simple slap on his face. He was going to be fine, and he wasn't going to pass out.. He felt better. Because Caleb looked after him. Caleb- "Eíste tóso kalós.."

"Thank you, mon Aldarn. Eíste tóso kalós." Aldarn laughed at that, because Caleb was too good to understand. He didn't understand. Everyone was evil, but not Caleb.

"Eíste tóso kalós óti ton antitachtheí." Green eyes had looked at him startlingly. Green eyes that were always so crying and hateful.. "I don't want you to think.."

The door cracked; big, metal door. And Caleb was already there beside him; picking him up.

"Everyone is good and bad Caleb.. But what about if one man makes two.. Couldn't one be good enough?"

**...**

Everyone was moving, and as Aldarn hugged him close - probably half dead, and half delusional - Caleb froze. Maybe.. No, Aldarn was half dead and half delusional.. But something inside him stung, because it was too late. Too far gone; he'd violated her. Her trust. Her beauty; her innocence and his own promise that she'd never hurt again. "Come on Aldarn, we are going to go."

Aldarn had thought she was here. He had thought Will was here and Caleb intended to feed Aldarn a banquet. Aldarn would be too full to move and then he could stay on Earth and see the sun and- "Everyone makes mistakes Caleb.. I was going to sell her name."

Caleb felt something drop, but kept his hold on Aldarn, on his shoulder mostly. Aldarn couldn't have known it wasn't a guard.. He was selling Will for water.. "You don't know what you're doing. You- You don't mean that, you-"

"Eíste tóso kalós.." Caleb felt his eyes watering, because Taranee was staring. The guard was staring, but it wasn't his fault! It wasn't Aldarn's fault! He made a mistake! He hadn't been thinking, and he was barely conscious and- And all Caleb had done was make a mistake.

"Thank you.. Aldarn. I'm going to get you some food." He was going to get Aldarn a banquet. No one else was too dehydrated, and nobody seemed to care to help him.. They were busy whispering false thankfulness to Caleb. Aldarn wouldn't have had a full glass of water in weeks. He was going to give him all those stupid fizzy drinks and all the chocolate, and- Aldarn would like things like that and Caleb thought of how Blunk just forgave them. But something in Caleb - despite these conscious thoughts - something couldn't forgive Aldarn yet. "Lot's of food, and the drought is over! And Will is fine, and we are saving you!"

* * *

><p>krísimi - critical<p>

Eíste tóso kalós - You're so good (Aldarn doesn't have the mental capacity, so forgive him for not using 'big words')

óti ton antitachtheí - that you oppose him (him being Phobos)


	14. Chapter 14

"WHOA!" Will shot back and Irma winced, but.. She'd caught it. And Irma stared at the arrow as Will's brown eyes widened, "It's a snake!"

Will felt a rise of someone else's panic, because they were shooting snakes instead of- She watched as Hay Lin blew a gust of frost and the snakes froze back into arrows; sharp teeth and tongues seeming to morph back to metallic points. And Will didn't know how long her girls were going to manage this, but Cornelia seemed to have the same thought; her hands flying out as the castle walls crumbled beneath the many guards' feet. "You're friends are becoming something of a nuisance.."

Cinnamon collided with iced silver-blue. Will didn't bother to glance at Elyon, only staring at the prince. She wasn't to trust anyone.. But he had laid out all of his cards; Prince Phobos wasn't acting to his own favor. He'd warned her he could kill her. He'd listened to her requests.. And somehow, against Caleb, Will couldn't honestly believe it; that the guards were killed that day. She didn't want to believe it, but was Caleb right? She didn't know anymore. She'd never thought he'd ever..

Water crashed upward, and stone and wood and vine created a field around them, and Will could only swivel her eyes to meet Elyon, who instantly averted her gaze. And Will wish there was something she could say, but she didn't know what she'd done, "Elyon.. I didn't-"

"WHY DO YOU HAVE TO SPOIL MY HAPPINESS!" Will shrank back and into the fierce cage of materials surrounding them in a great ball, a trap in which there was no way out, and Cornelia was leaning from the only window of air-space; trying to reach her friend so desperately, "Why can't you just leave me alone!"

"Elyon, you have to let us go!" She was so angry. Will could find it now; the ability to tone down, to volumize the emotion came and went, but sometimes it was so easy. With Caleb, it was so hard, but maybe that was good. He'd been so upset with himself when he realized.. Elyon was so angry, and she was so confused.. And Will blocked out Phobos entirely, because she didn't like the way he felt.

"Wait.." She could feel him anyway; he was crawling into her skin with suspicion. It didn't help that she knew he'd be looking for her. But Will pressed her back against the walls of this cage that concealed her. "Why are there only four.. The dungeons!"

They were never going to make it; Caleb was going to get captured and they'd be further from where they were in the first place. And what if they killed him? What if they tortured him? What if she was the only one who could help him? To get him out of the nightmare, and she had to assert herself. This was real. He was really in there and she- She was trapped. "We have to get loose!"

**...**

A string of panics seemed to be running through Will's mind, and Irma caught the action, as the girl glanced down and flexed her wrist. No way, this was not going to happen. Elyon was not going to help this guy win; not when it was wearing so hard on everyone. On Caleb. On Will.

"Sorry babe!" Irma wasn't sure whether it was directed at Elyon or Cornelia, as she pushed past and threw her hands up, "WATER!"

Whatever was holding the mass together and imprisoning them fell apart, as Elyon instead shielded herself and the apparent Prince. And no one bothered to question anything, as Will immediately flew the direction of the dungeons.


	15. Chapter 15

"We have to jump!"

"What?" Caleb stared at Taranee strangely, but she held her own, because he wasn't right.. What he'd done to Will.. He wasn't right and he still had Aldarn on his back, because the boy was insane. He'd intended to tell the guards that Will was here? For water. Everything was going wrong, and Caleb wasn't sure where he was going. His loyalties seemed divided and Taranee nodded.

"_You _have got to _trust_ Will. She'll get here." Caleb's eyes shone with defiance, but Taranee's with apology. She was sorry. He wasn't a bad guy.. But he was losing it, he had to trust them. She should have trusted him. What was going on with him? It was as though he'd been proving himself from day one, and now.. Now she got it, and he was changing. "Caleb, c'mon, we have to trust her! GO!"

Tinard jumped, and people started following after, but Caleb only tightened his grasp on Aldarn. Come on.. Taranee crossed her fingers, that Will would arrive, and then he did it. Caleb jumped.

**...**

Jeek watched, as the Guardians of the Veil flew into a portal behind the rebels, and he grinned. Blunk was always getting picks, but the passling was blind as to what he ought be picking. There was a large price on the Heart of Kandrakar. And Prince Phobos was a weak man now.

**...**

Hay Lin smiled, as Aldarn stared up at the falling snow. He'd been pretty sick, and Caleb had made it her job to look after him, though - as people feasted on Chinese takeout and pizza - Cornelia had stayed beside her for company, here on Shell Beach. It was all going to be okay.. Caleb had seen Will leave, and he was going to apologize. He'd never meant it. Hay Lin could see it. Caleb just worried about everyone.

**...**

Will sat, watching the water fold in against the snow and sand, from a distance where _grass _peaked through the light sprinkling of snow; somehow yet to be thick, because Heatherfield seemed to have the lightest snow she'd ever remembered. And she thumbed the precious stone that was wrapped around her wrist; she'd put it on while Taranee was out cold, and the night's tremors had dully washed over her. For her worry.

The air was thin, and blissfully cool as the sun sank lower; almost touching the water, and emitting the romanticism that made her heart harden, as she stared at the bluish stone that shone through the white sky, that refused to shine red, except from nearest to the sun, because it was winter, and white skies were the way it was supposed to be.

Fatigue was sinking in, now, to the extent that she didn't even feel as tired anymore; there was no longer the constant battle to keep her head from falling, but there was also no longer the waves of weakness rushing through her; the wave of heat and energy that had rushed through

"I'm tired Caleb, just-" Will paused, and unhooked the knot of black leather that held his gift to her wrist, before pulling the icy stone away. He'd sat beside her and she pushed it blindly into his hands. "I'm sorry, that you don't trust me. I'm sorry, that I thought that there might be something I could.. I'm sorry, but I made a lot of mistakes. I'm not very good at this, and.."

"So you aren't worried anymore." She shook her head slightly. She wasn't. She was just scared. Either way, there was no worry, because she'd done what she could, but she remained petrified of all those people who'd be left with what she managed to do for them. She didn't think of continuing apologizing; he knew what a horrific mess she was. He was watching.

"I'm sorry I ever even thought of saying that to you."

"I think you're a wonderful guardian."

**...**

She'd stumbled off, to close the portal, and the rebels were going to head East. That had always been the plan; to remain in the infinite city, because Prince Phobos never bothered to search things through. If it wasn't in his face, the Prince didn't care at all.

But she had come back, and Caleb found himself ever thankful as her head rested on him gently. Maybe.. He hadn't meant to hurt her, and she seemed to understand that, but she didn't understand.. Maybe it was okay. Caleb could only hear Aldarn's words through his mind, because Aldarn had done something terrible, and Caleb felt the scorch in his chest where Aldarn had burned into him, but Will had been told. She was such a grown up, because she had been told. Taranee had told her, and yet he'd watched her, hugging him and thanking him for something or another.. He wish he could do that, and maybe if he could. "Will, I.. You're everything."

The silence whispered, as the sun seemed to refuse to hand him the perfection she deserved; it ought be a lot more, and the sun ought be halfway down, instead of barely dipping into the water, and the stars should be waiting to shine for her, and the snow should have been thicker; so that it covered the ground, rather than barely dusting them as they sat on the ground, but as he shifted, and her head fell to his chest, she was sleeping. And she was perfect. And maybe all he could do was try. She deserved nothing but for him to do everything.

Even if what she wanted was what he wanted.. Maybe he was just getting lucky, and everyone would be gone except them, and he let himself lie down to watch the snow fall, because the sun seemed to take far too long to be watched setting. He'd tell her everything. One day. And she'd understand, because he really tried to tell her, but she was more blistering than the summer, and more freezing than the winter, and she was everything, but he didn't seem to have the words to tell her.


	16. Chapter 16

It had been dreamless, but wonderful, and Will woke to trudging movement and the smell of him and snow. Icy cold whispers, too light to be felt, were melting onto her skin, and Will refused to open her eyes for fear he'd put her down. Click. He was going to put her down anyway; he'd taken her home, and Will felt the lie blubbing up that she didn't feel tired at all now. _Less _tired, but maybe it was simply the lack of a nightmare, because she didn't have to assert herself with him. Caleb. He'd protect her; only more so now that he was protecting her from himself. That was what he thought. "Damn door.."

She could feel his inner peril; anxiety that no handsome boy should ever have to have, but there was always something wonderful about his emotions. Heightened, and full, and so many that were desirable. He was always so happy, and so.. Unless he was worried, but it was still in there, this desire and piety. He was so full of devotion and attachment to everyone. Will smirked when she heard the struggle with her door, and she wondered how she'd missed the stairs. He still wouldn't get in an elevator. "You're so wonderful to me.."

"I hit you." The door swung open at that and in a moment he'd put her down, and Will knew that he was still thinking about it. But he hadn't hit her.. He'd barely pulled her back. He was making a big deal out of nothing; he did that to the others all the time. He was worse with them, but of course he could only see that he'd been angry, and she'd.. Been afraid. "I.. I hurt you."

"You're so.." Will found herself lost for words, because words couldn't describe it. He was perfect, nearly, and maybe some of it wasn't what she expected.. He was foolish, childish, and sometimes he couldn't seem to hold in his anger, and he was so full of hate.. She didn't like that bit, but she pushed it away because it wasn't for her anyway.. Even when he'd been angry at her, he didn't seem _angry _at her. "You know.. If you want to talk about it.."

"I.. Can't.." Emerald cried, silently, and she wondered if Caleb was holding back tears. There was so much and he never showed her.. She hadn't thought him scared of anything, but she found that he was only more because he was scared of _everything_. And there was something undescribable in his fingers tracing her skin.. This enlightenment, trusting, intimate.. Emotion.. It was.. Her heart itself was aching, because it was so strong that he _was _hurting her.. He was.. It was so much and he was.. "..Yet.. I'll tell you.. I just can't.. Yet."

It was hard to breathe, and she found herself amazed that he could talk; this foreign captivator, that soaked through her from him; intoxicating madness; wonderful, blissful, painful, it felt like it was sucking out her very soul, and it made her want to cry and scream and laugh and.. And she honestly felt breathless, when his fingers moved away.. He hadn't been like that.. Before.. He was always so.. But not like.. That.. "C-Cale-"

"Den gnorízo pós na moirasteí aftí.. Den gnorízo pós alliós na sas pei.. I'm not very good at.. I don't have the English word to.." It was crushing her. Overwhelming; drowning; destroying her. He was devestated and shattered and this was excruciating, and she had to push it away, and she was sure that everything was more intense, because otherwise she was sure he should be dead on the ground; this burning inside that was somehow everything and nothing; it was so filling and so empty; so vast and cataclysmic; so.. It was wonderful and terrible, and he had to feel that.. Why did he feel that? It was like..

"Are you an empath?" If he was he must be a good one, because he was feeling the whole world, perhaps the Universe's emotions.. Maybe he was.. He seemed stunned by the question; thoughtful, and maybe he didn't know that that was what it was.. "I think it's like you're an-"

"Koimísou, Will.. Go to sleep." Will felt white rage where his lips collided with her skin; her temple burning passionately in the shape of him clumsily grazing against her, and she almost asked him to stay; somehow.. To fall asleep beside her; she knew he'd never.. It wouldn't _be _with Caleb.. Because everything was so complicated and simple.. And she didn't need to assert herself, if he was going to be there.

"Caleb, I-"

"Will, you are my very best friend.." Something fell, then, with his smile and the word.. _Frien_.. If he was an empath.. He.. All of those feelings that she liked.. All that devotion and.. They weren't him anyway. [0]

"Goodnight, Caleb."

"Goodnight, Will."

**...**

_Will found herself amongst the bodies of men, and she pushed away the fear that rose up. "This isn't real."_

_"Of course it's real."_

_Will shook her head, and swallowed tears that wanted to fall. "This is my dream."_

_"You don't get a choice."_

_Will pulled her legs a little closer, but then dropped her arms completely, and refused to look at the bodies and blood and lost spirits of innocent people she didn't know. "They're not dead."_

_"What?"_

_"They're not dead."_

_"Of course they are. Look at them."_

_"I am. They aren't dead." Will glanced, then, and smiled. "They're all just sleeping."[1]_

* * *

><p><strong>Den gnorízo pós na moirasteí aftí.. Den gnorízo pós alliós na sas pei.. - <strong>I don't know how to share this.. I don't know how else to tell you..

**Koimísou, **Will **- **Go to sleep, Will.

[0] Caleb is _not _an empath, not in any sense that Will is/thinks he is.. Just to clear that up; those are his emotions, and he was trying to show her what he's been pushing down, because he doesn't know what it is or how to deal with it.

[1] The smile is because she'd have gained control, and they _would _suddenly just be sleeping.. Someone took her advice.. And someone will be pissed off..


End file.
